A man who was busted in the takedown of the hacking forum Darkode has received jail time for his online criminal activities. U.S. District Judge Dee D. Drell sentenced Rory Stephen Guidry, 29, also known as "[email protected]," of Opelousas, Louisiana, to 12 months and one day in prison for using a computer to steal money, hack computers in an attempt to steal passwords, and sell the information on Darkode. Guidry has also received three years of supervised release. On February 5, 2016, the computer criminal pleaded guilty to hacking a server located in Austin Texas while he was living in Liberty Hill, Texas back in July 2014, writes KTBS News. Some of his other exploits online involve hacking into a computer to steal access to 5,000 credit cards and conspiring with another hacker to steal $80,000 in Bitcoin.
He also stole access to the botnet used by the Lizard Squad distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) group to bring down Xbox Live and PlayStation Network on Christmas Day in 2014. Guidry posted that code to Darkode and used it to gain the trust of the hacker forum's administrators. According to information security investigative journalist Brian Krebs, the computer criminal made it his mission to bring down Lizard Squad and, by extension, some of the administrators of Darkode. One hacker source even told The Daily Dot both he and Guidry became paid informants of the U.S. federal government and assisted authorities in their efforts to gain access to the forum. Guidry's affidavit makes no mention of him having served as an informant. Even if he did assist the federal government, his work did not save him from law enforcement's investigation into Darkode. In the summer of 2015, federal authorities concluded their two-year investigation code-named "Operation Shrouded Cloud" by shutting down the hacking forum and arresting Guidry, Eric Crocker of New York, and 10 others.
“Cybercrime is a serious threat facing our country and has enormous implications for citizens,” U.S. Attorney Stephanie Finley said in a statement released by the Department of Justice. “As the cyber threat in this nation and around the world continues to grow, our response to this type of criminal activity will be swift and aggressive. Clever computer criminals will not be able to hide or maintain their anonymity even as they cross national boundaries. Through the coordinated response and international cooperation of our law enforcement partners, individuals such as these who are involved in computer hacking forums will see their organizations dismantled, and they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
It is unclear at this time when Guidry will begin serving his prison sentence. Darkode has since resurfaced online with some new security features.
